Joseph Axel

Joseph Axel is developer of curricula and designer of online and remote courses. From 2015 to 2017, he was the Principal Investigator on a $1.3 million US Department of State grant projects funded through the US Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq in training Iraqi English teachers to be teacher trainers. He also integrated English teachers from the South Sudan and Rwanda into special programs, developed and led conversation groups for international PhD students, and has worked with Brazilian Science Mobility Program students in language development and improving academic performance.  In addition to onground teacher training, he and colleagues have developed and delivered tailored programs for international English teachers including massive open online courses (MOOCs).

His publications have focused on language policies in the United States, the Philippines, and Iraq, and they examine the sociopolitical and economic motivations behind language development and attrition. Other research and publication foci include English as a global language, heritage languages, curriculum development, teacher training, and transnationalism.

Axel graduated from the University of Iowa with a degree in Psychology and a minor in Spanish. While teaching English as a second language (ESL) in Chicago at the high school level, he worked on a Master’s in Education (M.Ed.) with a focus in ESL/Bilingual studies at Northern Illinois University. He transferred to Arizona State University where he earned an M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction with an ESL focus. He later earned a Ph.D. in Educational Leadership & Policy Studies at Arizona State University. Special projects have included translating a helicopter manual from English to Spanish and teacher training in Beijing, China.